White House Ditches Anti-Beyoncé Petition Over Inauguration Performance Due to Pepsico Deal

White House Removes Petition Calling for Beyoncé to be Disinvited from Inauguration Due to Pepsi Deal

The White House has removed a petition calling for Beyoncé to be disinvited from the inauguration due to her multi-million PepsiCo deal.

The petition received 500 signatures after being posted on Jan. 14, and became unavailable for signing the next day, with a message posted onWe the People that reads “The petition you are trying to access has been removed from the site under our Moderation Policy because it is in violation of our Terms of Participation.”

But while the Presidential Inaugural Committee said that President Obama participated in selecting those chosen for his ceremony, White House spokesman Shin Inouye told Obama Foodorama that the petition was removed not due to any controversy, but simply because Beyoncé’s Inaugural performance is “not something the White House actually has jurisdiction over.”

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The petition to get Beyoncé “disinvited” was created by Laurie David, a longtime environmental activist and the producer of “An Inconvenient Truth” as well as the author of a book about the importance of family meals. David wrote a Huffington Post editorial on the subject asking for petition signatures, titled “Why Beyoncé is the wrong star for the Star-Spangled Banner.” Source: Obama Foodorama

Personally, I think the inaugural committee could have had a far more credible entertainer than Beyoncé. It seems that all the heavy-hitters (Obama supporters) in the entertainment world are missing from prominent slots — Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Patti Labelle, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Hudson, etc. It does smack of hypocrisy to have her playing such a prominent role, while her PepsiCo deal is contrary to First Lady Michelle Obama’s anti-childhood obesity program. The White House just can’t pull a petition and give a flimsy reason why. Um, this was really because this was about someone the First Lady considers a friend.